Have you been prescribed any meds for your RA? If not, then be aggressive and get your rheumatologist to start you on something.

If you are on meds, same aggressive policy. See that doctor, and tell him you are hurting. If the meds are slow to work, there are other things to keep you going, like NSAIDS or even the dreaded prednisone.

I am very sorry for your pain. My advice with the thumb, is be very careful not to use it. I had two totally flared thumbs, and my husband made me pick rocks in the garden. He had put them there against my wishes, and I had to clean them up. The pain was beyond belief and after three days I had permanently deformed thumbs. Not to scare you, but the best policy is not to use a severely flared joint.

I hope you will get lots of support here. I've been fighting RA for 18 yaers. I was winning for quite a few years, now I am losing the battle. but I am not down about it, and still thinking about ways to beat my auto-immune system into submission! LOL

Hi there. I am newly diagnosed as well and i have asked a lot of these questions to my rheumatologis too. I have had some periods of time where my pain has been so bad and crippling I couldnt even walk or eat or barely even roll from side to side in my bed, but when I got my xrays and what not done at my initial appointment there showed no signs of damage yet. This leads me to believe that your level of pain has little to do with the level of damage going on. Also, they told me that even if you find a way to manage the pain (pain meds or cannabis or whatever), it doesnt mean that the disease isnt still damaging your joints. So, you can be "feeling" really great but your joints could still be getting attacked. My experience so far with RA (8 months in) is that every single day is different, some days i wont be able to even use my hands and they will be so swollen and rendered completely useless, then the next day my hands will be fine and it will be my feet or my knees or whatever. Some days its every joint in my body and some days i have almost no pain anywhere. I havent started any meds at all yet so, again, I dont know how any of your feelings relate to your meds.

RASally, I smiled when I saw your name. I was diagnosed 9 years ago and joined this support group then. I really am not sure why I disappeared lol. However, as soon as I got in the shape I'm in I immediately returned. I needed to talk to someone who could relate to my pains. I hate anyone feeling this way but at the same time it is comforting not being alone.
Thank you for all your advice. I had a boss tell me once that I was my worst critic. I have always been independent and a take charge type person. I will work on this, I have my work cut out for me.
I really don't understand how anybody can work with this! Of course I worked outdoors in landscaping and as fun as it was, it was intense work for RA or PsA. The Dr is still in the air on which one I have.
MarleneJ, I am on Humira and had been on max injection of mtx for many years. Last week I was taken off mtx fearing I was starting to have major side effects from it. He put me on a brief dose of prednisone to knock out this burst of pain.
Thank you for the honesty. That is what I need. The scariest part is the not knowing. I am so sorry for your pain and disablement, however your strength and determination is a breath of fresh air!
RobynPerrier, unfortunately I guess I'm not really new to this disease, but no matter how much you study about it , it still doesn't prepare you for it. I hope you have a drs appointment soon to get put on preventive meds. The one thing I want to do is stay on meds to prevent crippling!
Thank you all for feedback and sharing knowledge.
Tender hugs, Terri!

Hi Terri(nice to know your name....guess I keep forgetting...RA brain).

I have much the same problem with my hands right now. Incredible pain. And I know it's from the joints in a bad flare and the tendons too. The tendinitis so bad I can't open a fist once closed and can't straighten my fingers either. The swelling in between the fingers makes it feel like they are in a vise.. Don't ask me to "live long and prosper" because I can't make that sign! lol.

But the RA tendinitis also causes the finger tendons to "lengthen" or go "lax" and that causes the joints to dislocate so I "get" that sensation....mine do dislocate, especially my thumbs. Bend my thumb inward like making a closed fist and they pop right out of joint and I have to rotate it outward to put it back in. My left wrist does it too.

Right now, the only thing that helps is keeping them warm inside oven mitts. Hand warmers work well or even the small microwavable pouches you can buy designed to go into gloves or mitts. At night, I wrap them inside my electric blanket.

I see my rheumy on Wednesday and I'm praying for some steroid injections to relieve some of the stinging pain I've got. Gone beyond hot to stinging hot! OUCH!

I wish you well and perhaps it's time to call your doc.

gentle hugs............Jen

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, that my feet are the worst part of my body. I remember the days of not being able to stand in a line up at the store or bank, the pain was so bad. I would literally standing with tears running down my cheeks. Now I have a badly deformed left foot, which hurts much less than the formerly badly deformed reconstructed forefoot. (Thank goodness for on-line banking, but I still have to grocery shop!)

My hands are second worse. I try to do a lot of range of motion exercises, and play flute daily to keep my fingers moving. And typing, of course. I have had some very bad flares in my bigger joints, but so far not enough to cause a lot of damage, except my knees which are. a mess from OA, although I don't feel it.

My thought is a short flare, lasting a day or so, is not going to cause much damage. I've only had a couple of bad short, hip flares, and so far no damage has shown up. The small joints in the hands and feet are very deformed. I might post the picture in my profile, of my feet, esp. before reconstruction, to show you what happens when the disease is not under control, because I did not complain loud enough.